Acoustic guitar amplification concepts

[Marshall]

I saw Molly Tuttle at Fretboard Summit a couple years ago. She used to be a K&K and Tonedexter supporter. When I saw her in 2023, she was using the K&K plus their Helix Mag pickup. Plus there was a floor pedal (not TD). And there was a stage microphone focused on the guitar. The sound guy mixed it all and it sounded GREAT.

Later in the show she shared the stage with another player who had no pickup, so the mic got moved to the other woman. And Molly's tone didn't sound anywhere near as natural as when the mic was in her mix.

[BDiamond]

Originally Posted by Marshall

The sound guy mixed it

Most important part of the paragraph right there. Must have been an awesome show, she's great.

[Marshall]

Absolutely. The issue for most of us is we don’t have a real pro tweaking the knobs.

But my other point was when the mic stand was moved even the pro sound guy couldn’t totally fix the K&K with the Helix Mag.

[jseth]

Originally Posted by conecaster

I understand your economics.

But GoAA does not cost $1000

In my shop I charge $450 for an installed system, that is our simple system with vol. On the sound hole.

The ES system is $475 installed in my shop.

If someone wants midi, a custom installation, that can cost more. But I have not charged anyone $1000 even for that.

I am not sure how this perception would get started.

Well, first of all, I stand corrected about your system!

I was speaking about a player having a pickup system installed, then adding a high-quality preamp and additionally, perhaps even a Tone Dexter unit... we're talking about some serious change being spent!

If you have multiple instruments, then you're adding at minimum, a second pickup - and frequently, duplicating the first one - if your preamp doesn't have two channels - and I don't think that one Tone Dexter can service two separate signals at the same time? - then you need another preamp, as well...

Of course, EVERYTHING in the sound chain is very important... does no good to have a great pickup system and play it through a "less than" PA or amplifier...

Not to mention that, in the real world of gigging, whatever one uses has to be reliable and fairly easy to setup and use...

[Ken Carr]

Conecaster, I am reading this thread, but I haven't seen the videos yet. Can you describe your system a little better? I understand that your system uses six individual saddle transducers. Is this similar to the LR Baggs system that Doyle Dykes used on his Taylor signature series? Are you then balancing the signal level of each string independently of each other? I'm assuming there is much more to it than that. Just an honest question. I'll watch the videos when I have time.